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Welcome to the land of art auctions where a photograph of Ralph Hotere can be estimated (and probably sell at) at a higher value than a drawing by Ralph Hotere.
Image: Webb’s Important paintings and contemporary art catalogue with Marti Friedlander’s photo est. $4,500 - $7,500 and Ralph Hotere’s drawing Woman with flowers est. $5,000 - $7,000

Paper plus

Wallpaper has become a favoured tool of many artists. There are examples of Andy Warhol’s early foray into it as a medium at Te Papa right now and artists like Thomas Demand, Urs Fischer and Takashi Murakami use it as a way to get major coverage fast. But who’d have guessed Ralph Hotere would get into the act, albeit posthumously? In fact we’re being perhaps ingenuous here calling it wallpaper (it’s not actually stuck on the wall) but it’s a strange lookalike story, and besides we wanted to attract your attention.

Back when The Hocken Library in Dunedin was housed in the Richardson building, Hotere’s three part banner work Rain (the words were by poet Hone Tuwhare) hung in the foyer. Not the best place for it as it turned out as the wind and sun did their bit to damage the paint. It was then removed and restored and now hangs in the new Hocken library foyer. “But hey, (suspend your disbelief, this is the Richardson building calling out in dismay) what about me? You can’t just leave a bloody empty wall!” And they didn’t. Enter a full-size colour photograph of Rain installed as a replacement. Well not a replacement exactly as it’s a photograph and on paper. A lookalike. Strange, but true.

Image: Top: a ‘wallpaper’ version of Rain hangs where no painting dares, followed by wallpaper works by Andy Warhol, Takashi Maurakami, Thomas  Demand and Urs Fischer.

Q&A

Along with most art museums in NZ the Auckland Art Gallery posted tributes to Ralph Hotere on its blog Outpost. The posts were a powerful reminder of how quickly art museums can respond in situations like this to show they are an integral part of the wider art community. Included in the Auckland Art Gallery post was some info about the installation of Hotere’s 18 meter long mural Godwit/Kuaka. Apparently there were discussions with Hotere himself about how the new long corridor space at the Gallery perfectly matched the corridor where the mural had been originally installed at the Auckland International Airport. Later in the post, however, it also said the mural had been displayed on “the rear wall of the airport’s Arrivals Hall.” Confusing, but interesting just the same.

In less than half an hour there was a comment on the blog from someone who had been responsible for airport civil maintenance at the time the Hotere mural was at the Airport. The Auckland Art Gallery had it wrong, he said. Hotere’s mural was not in a corridor and nor was it in a ‘welcoming Arrival Hall’ but in the incoming passenger processing area. (It was Pat Hanly and Robert Ellis’s works that hung in the corridor). OK, so now what?

Well, nothing really. A couple of weeks later and there has been no response from the Gallery and it really feels like a lost opportunity. Is the Airport guy right? And if so what’s all the stuff about being in a the corridor about? And where exactly was it hung? It was an unusual chance to discuss an interesting and topical piece of art history, and it could have almost been done in real time. The thing is many people have these blogs on RSS feeds and read comments like this as they land. OK sure you might get some silly responses but to leave questions like this hanging misses a great opportunity to build interest, build audiences and clear up the corridor thing all at the same time.

Image: Ralph Hotere’s 1977 Working drawing for the central panels of the Auckland International Airport mural in the Hocken Library collection. In his book Native wit Hamish Keith who commissioned the work states that the Hotere hung in the Customs hall. 

COMMENT: (Andrew)  "I'm glad someone has finally cleared that up. Although I really enjoy the experience of swimming through the waves of colour that accompany you down the new corridor, it doesn't come close to the magnificent experience of seeing it whole when it was first shown at Auckland Art Gallery as part of the Out the Black Window exhibition. I've always wondered how people had mistaken 'arrivals hall' to mean a hallway when it was more of a town hall. The airport guy is right. The processing area (or customs hall) was basically the baggage hall, which it hung high above - I'm quite well acquainted with an ex-airport gal who worked under the mural for many years. We've been mystified for a while about the corridor thing."

Spam

unvarnished facts, reckless guesswork, insinuations and possible inventions that have landed in our email: te papa has advertised four art curator positions to help them 'enter a bold new phase' and 're-organise for the future' • dealers and auction houses report a stampede of hotere resales being offered to the market just days after the artist’s death • want to know where the money goes? this year cnz has announced when grants will be published on their web site and next up are the quick response grants on 14 march at 5 pm • the aag search team for a new director is thought to be jenny gibbs deputy chair of regional facilities, robert domm chief executive of regional facilities and an ex art museum director from australia (edmund capon?) • peter robinson and fiona connor have been selected for the 2013 instanbul biennale • a nielsen quality of life survey found only 7 percent of aucklanders ‘agreed strongly’ that their city had a culturally rich and diverse arts scene • starting work on the len lye centre will be further delayed to later this year as the tender winning construction company finishes the new plymouth police station • webb’s are following art + auction’s temp exhib at 30 upstairs in wellington last year with their own temp exhib at the new the young • any missed details, indignant denials or additions gratefully received, and any that makes us go into ‘wish we’d thought of it’ mode will be rewarded with an overthenet painting horse badge.

Ralph Hotere 1931-2013

There has been a massive outpouring from the media in response to Ralph Hotere’s death on Sunday. This time the role of one of our important artists has been powerfully and publically acknowledged for his contribution to our culture’s history and development. The irony will not be lost on those who knew Hotere as one of a small band of artists who refused to take part in the media round. He always said that if you wanted answers you needed to find them in the work and he stuck to that philosophy. Hotere quotes are few and far between. 

We had our own experience of the Hotere silence when we asked for an interview back in the late 1970s. “I really have nothing to say to you,” he replied to our note, “but you are more than welcome to come and spend a day with me and my work.” So we did. Hotere was wry and funny and thoughtful never once suggesting that the two Wellington eager beavers might be keeping him away from important work. It was a memorable day and as it turned out not the last. Now that contemporary art by Maori artists is simply accepted as another key part of our culture, it is hard to remember how hard this acceptance was won and what a pivotal part Ralph Hotere played in the winning.

Images: Top left Otago Daily Times front page and right The Press inside pages. Middle, NZ Herald Front page and inners. Bottom Dominion Post front page and TVNZ report.